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Child Watch® Column: "Stand Up and Protect the Basic Human Right to Health Care"

Release Date: June 30, 2017

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Every July 4th Americans come
together to celebrate the promise of our Declaration of Independence. We know
for millions of Americans our nation has never fully lived up to that creed,
but for all who still believe in the American ideal this has never been a
reason to give up. Instead in every generation a new group of women and men and
youths and even children have come forward to do their part in pushing America
closer to its full promise. The current administration and Congress show how
far we still have to go.

In his
inspiring speech at the 1963 March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
explained that was why we were all there: “When the architects of our republic
wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was
to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, Black men as well as White
men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of ‘Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of Happiness’. . . We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is
bankrupt.”

On this July 4th we are once again
fighting to protect basic human rights including life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness for tens of millions of vulnerable children and adults in our
country and protesting the moral bankruptcy of Senate Republican leaders and
our President.

In a country that says it values life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness, how can any of our leaders of any
political party or ideology propose actions to slash health care for tens of
millions of the neediest in order to give tax cuts to the extremely non-needy wealthy,
favoring millionaires over mothers, billionaires over babies, and powerful corporations
already garnering huge sums in government subsidies over children? That is what
the Senate version of the already obscenely unjust House-passed American Health
Care Act (AHCA) would do. Crafted in secret by 13 White men without a single
hearing, the Senate health bill that purports to repeal the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) actually caps and cuts Medicaid — an indispensable lifeline that has
served America’s most vulnerable children, mothers giving birth, people with
disabilities and vulnerable elderly well for more than 50 years. But in a representative
democracy like ours the people elect members of Congress to represent us and be
our voice. As members of the Senate head home to their districts for their July
4th recess it’s up to us to fulfill our democraticduty and make
sure our voices are heard and make sure our Senators fulfill their democratic duty to protect all
their ­constituencies and not just those who make campaign contributions to
them or their political party.

Here are five of the many ways the
Senate’s misleadingly and wrongly named “Better Care Reconciliation Act” (BCRA),
more appropriately named the “Worse Care Reconciliation Act,” harms children, offers
worse care and makes us question the moral judgment of our Senate leaders:

Ends Medicaid as we know it,
jeopardizing the health of 40 percent of America’s children. Medicaid
currently ensures comprehensive, affordable health coverage for 37 million low-income
and disabled children, including 40 percent of all children with special health
care needs, and covers more than 40 percent of all births. Who is going to meet
this huge need if Medicaid crumbles? The BCRA would fundamentally restructure
Medicaid, cap federal funds to states and end our nation’s half century long commitment
to guarantee health coverage for the most vulnerable, placing tens of millions of
children and other vulnerable populations — those with disabilities and the
elderly — at great risk. It is astonishing to me that the Senate Majority
Leader would vote to see the number of uninsured children and non-elderly
adults in Kentucky rise by more than half a million in 2022 — a 231 percent
increase, the third highest increase in the nation, according to an Urban
Institute analysis. And that number does not include the elderly being
cared for at home or in nursing homes whose health needs will be undermined.

Slashes $772 billion
in Medicaid to give tax cuts to wealthy individuals and powerful corporations,
placing the interests of those who need help the most below those who need no government
assistance. The 400 highest incometaxpayers alone would receive tax cuts
worth about $33 billion over ten years. Millionaires would get tax cuts
exceeding $50,000 a year. The Senate bill would cut $100 billion in taxes for
drug companies and health insurers. The Senate should keep the tax increases originally
included in the ACA to pay for expanded health care for children and adults, and
take tax cuts and cuts to Medicaid — the popular, efficient safety net program that
is a lifeline for tens of millions — off the dismantling and slashing table
entirely.

Makes at least 22
million more Americans uninsured, 15 million from Medicaid alone. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates
15 million people would become uninsured in 2018 and a total of 22 million
people would be added to the ranks of the uninsured by 2026.The CBO concludes this bill alone would result in a 26 percent reduction
in Medicaid funding over ten years and grow to a 35 percent reduction by the
end of the next ten years as the cap on funding tightens.

Severely restricts
Medicaid dollars that now help disabled children and adults remain at home, in
communities and out of institutions and help schools and child protection
agencies better meet children’s needs. I assume every Senator
would want his or her own child or disabled family member to live at home
rather than in a hospital or institution, and would want a guarantee that they
would get the care they need in school, and if they need foster care could get
services to help reunify their family as quickly as possible. Instead, this
cruel and unjust bill offers other people’s children and adults with
disabilities worse rather than better care.As states’ fiscal pressures grow from budget gaps caused by the massive
Medicaid cost shift, states will be much less likely to continue offering home
and community-based waivers for disabled children and adults and are lesslikely to be able to provide funds to
schools and childprotection
agencies to help provide services and specialized staff for our most vulnerable
children.

Leaves millions of
Americans paying more for less health care. Premiums, deductibles and other forms of cost-sharing will dramatically raise
costs, particularly for older and sicker people, and at the same time states
will be allowed to limit coverage for essential health benefits such as
maternity and pediatric care, substance abuse treatment, mental health
treatment, and habilitative care. The CBO estimates that half of the population
will face more limited benefits and have access to critical services undermined
and again face annual and lifetime limits on coverage. This will severely restrict
coverage for children and adults with disabilities and pre-existing conditions.

Good health in our country with the
biggest economy in the world should be a right and not a privilege for all and not just for the wealthy. Every
life is sacred and of equal value. I agree with Dr. King that “of all the forms
of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.” So please
stand up and make your voice heard in no uncertain terms. Be as loud and as
persistent as you can until your leaders do the right thing for all their constituents and all in America. Make yourself heard
during this July 4th Congressional recess (before they return to
Washington the week of July 10th). Demand that your Senators reject the
cruel and unjust “Worse Care” Reconciliation Act. Ask them to do for your
children and family members what they enjoy at taxpayers’ expense for their own
children and family members. Your voices have already made a difference. Recent
national polls show fewer than one in five people approve of the Senate bill. But
keep going and increase the pressure on anyone seeking to wipe out the health
protections everyone in America needs and deserves.

Make a loud noise at 4th
of July parades. Visit or call Senators’ state
offices. Join other allies for a healthy America in town hall meetings
and other forums. This is a life and death struggle for millions of people
of all ages about who we are and what we value as a nation. If you believe that
children’s lives are as important as corporate profits and babies’ and mothers’
chances to be healthy are as important as billionaires and millionaires, stand
up and be heard. Do not be fooled by the alternative and fake name of the Better
Care Reconciliation Act. It’s a Trojan horse — rotten to the core. No amount of
tinkering can fix it. Urge your Senators to step up to #ProtectMedicaid and all
generations from health injustice.

Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children's Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org.

we are based in Monrovia, Liberia is it possible to part of what you are doing in the world. We operate the Temple outreach Children's Ministries Inc.

Submitted by flyingoverNJ at: July 5, 2017

Provisions for health benefits are very much necessary for individuals as well as for the health of our nation, while I agree some reforms to medicaid are necessary, it should not further jeopardize the lives of those who need it most. Vote for just and equitable healthcare not against individuals in need!

Submitted by Connie at: July 2, 2017

What happened to having leaders that put the constituents that elected them first. The more I read this column the more I see that it is important for us to act by doing whatever is necessary. Prayer changes things!

Submitted by Jennifer at: July 1, 2017

We will NEVER let this happen; we've come too far, marched too long. Our voices will not be stilled. COMPASSION and decency.

Submitted by GW at: June 30, 2017

By an extremely conservative estimate, only 1% of those 22 million Americans who loose health insurance as a result of this bill will die as a result. Accordingly, this bill will kill at least 50 times as many Americans as were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Appropriately, we should be seeing 50 times the outrage we saw in 2001 and 50 times the servrity of the response, especially considering that this crime is the work of Americans.